


Chance Ball!

by Yakus_heart



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heartbreak, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26602525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yakus_heart/pseuds/Yakus_heart
Summary: A training camp goes horribly wrong when Nishinoya gets injured, but when he ends up lying beside his best friend who has managed to injure himself as well, Yu realizes that his broken wrist isn't the only type of break he's going to suffer from.Read: Nishinoya realizing he has a crush on Tanaka, but it doesn't end how he wished it would.
Relationships: Nishinoya Yuu/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Shimizu Kiyoko/Tanaka Ryuunosuke
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Chance Ball!

**Author's Note:**

> I had fun writing this. Comments and shares are appreciated, they make my day!
> 
> My Instagram is @yakus_heart
> 
> So tag me there for anything related to this

It's a libero's job to defend the court. When a ball comes to him, he's supposed to receive it so the rest of the team can do their jobs too. Most servers would aim for the place that the libero couldn't cover, but of course, when was Nekoma ever a team to do what most others would do?

The ball comes straight to him, and he receives it well, the ball flying up in the air as Yu falls back on his butt from the impact. Of course, that doesn't deter him long, with a score of 23-24 in the second set, there was no way they could afford to lose after Nekoma took the first set thanks to Kageyama and Hinata being horribly out of synch.

Or maybe it was just Kageyama being a royal pain in the ass. Tsukishima would probably snicker if he heard him make that comment out loud. Kageyama sets the ball to the right, allowing Hinata to spike it. He gets past the blockers, but Shinji digs it up and it flies back over the net. Nishinoya takes a step back, shouting-

"Chance Ball!"

Oh, but the ball is going over his head. So the libero does the libero's job. He turns quickly on his feet, finding himself much too close to the wall when he dives with an outstretched arm. It's less of a dive and more like he tripped in sudden panic right before colliding with the wall.

He feels the sting of the ball hitting his wrist but he knows it doesn't make it back to the court because the whistle is loud in his ears despite being so far from him. Yu feels slightly dizzy, rolling over onto his back and trying not to burst into tears right then and there.

His whole arm feels like it's going numb from the pain not to mention his head was throbbing.

"Noya!"

Daichi is the first beside him, helping him to his feet, but he winces. How many places did he get hurt in that one blow? He heard a quiet snicker a few feet away.

"Looks like he finally rolling thundered himself into a wall- ow!" That was definitely Tsukishima who he could only assume just got smacked in the head by Suga.

"Are you okay?"

"I messed it up…"

"Nishinoya, are you okay?"

Yu quickly pulls out of his senpai's grip and starts to storm off with a very obvious limp. He must've been radiating agitation because no one else touched him, but he could feel their eyes on his back...

\------------------

Nishinoya was all ready to go home from this stupid training camp. He felt better being in the hot bath, but his teammates clearly noticed how he lacked his usual energy.

"Noya," Tanaka startled him, causing him to look down at his friend who was almost entirely submerged under the water, leaving only his head above. "You don't look too good."

"I'm alright, Ryu, A little bit of rest will fix me up," The libero grins and receives a smile in return. "That better be true, we need our guardian!"

A faint pink tint appeared on his cheeks. He couldn't let his friends down because of a little injury. "Yeah! You'd be totally lost without me!"

Yu feels a tinge of pain in his shoulder. He could totally stand this for just a few more days!

\---------------

_Or….maybe not._

No one expected to wake up on the fourth day of their 5-day camp to their libero sobbing at 3 in the morning. He got hurt on the second day and refused to stop playing, and now he was paying the price.

"Noya-"

"Don't touch me!" He didn't mean to snap at his captain but was in far too much pain to think straight. Even though his eyes were shut tight, he knew everyone was surrounding him, although someone probably went to get Takeda or Ukai.

The small teen opens his eyes to find Tanaka sitting in front of him. A soft whimper emanates from the libero. The spiker just frowns. "You said you'd be okay," he said. Noya wasn't used to hearing him sound so….he wasn't even sure what to call it. He sounded upset and...worried.

"I thought I would be! I didn't think it was that bad, I thought I could just hold out until we went home!"

"You probably could've if you weren't playing," Daichi interjects in a surprisingly bitter tone that Yu would've only expected from Tsukishima or Kageyama. "That was a stupid move, Noya."

"I know, I get it!" He snaps again. If there was anything that everyone on the team could collectively agree on, it was that they hated being scolded by Daichi. The exception was Suga who seemed to be exempt from it. "Just leave me alone, I feel like shit!"

Despite the protest, Nishinoya was taken from the room by their coach. His mind sort of blurred the next hour or so. The ride to the clinic was quiet, and the whole trip was uneventful. Yu was tired and preferred to block everything else out.

His collarbone and wrist were broken with the addition of a sprained ankle. Lucky for him, the more serious injuries would heal in approximately the same amount of time. Unluckily, they were still broken bones and the movement would be restricted, not that he would've been able to play anyway.

He wasn't excited to go home with a cast on his forearm to immobilize his wrist tomorrow. His ankle was simply wrapped to deal with the sprain, and there was a brace meant to deal with the collarbone, but he didn't have to wear it when asleep.

The pain medication as well as the pain itself and the exhaustion from playing all week was enough to keep him asleep through the next day. His friends were probably told to leave him be. Because of this, he expected to wake up alone and was started to find that he wasn't.

Ryu was totally knocked out less than a foot away from him. The male didn't even bother sitting up, simply poking the spiker who woke rather quickly. "Dude, why are you in here?"

" 'cause I'm too crazy for the court to handle," Tanaka answers dramatically. It took a brief second for Nishinoya to realize that his friend must have gotten hurt if he was here with him and not still on that court. There's a comedically long pause before Nishinoya actually decides to ask "Ryu, what did you do?"

His friend laughs and rolls over onto his back with a slight wince "Not sure, but I can't jump. If I do, I end up getting off-balance in the air or it really hurts, plus it made a noise that made Tsukishima look like he was gonna get sick, so-" he reaches over and ruffles Yu's hair. "We'll both be benched for a little while now, huh?"

The brunette finds himself not only comforted but smiling. Geez, of course, he would be the one to follow him in getting fucked up by ambitious playing. Suddenly he thinks to ask "Who will play in our places while we're out, then?"

At this question, Ryu made an unpleasant face. "I'm not sure. No one can defend like you can. And obviously, no one plays like me-" Noya chuckles quietly at that. "But I'm thinking Ennoshita will probably sub for me but I don't know about you. Yamaguchi maybe? Or maybe one of the other second years?"

This time it's Noya who makes an unpleasant face. He wasn't sure what he thought about any of those options. Suddenly something cold collides with his head and sends a shiver down his spine. Both of the injured players look up to see Sugawara hovering over them.

"You didn't even mention me!" He huffed. It was hard to tell if this fact actually annoyed him or not. The setter sat down which made the other two feel inclined to sit up.

"I can't believe you both did something crazy and got hurt…" their senpai sighs heavily. "Hinata does crazy stuff all the time, it's not my fault Kageyama asked me to try something that made my knee sorta pop!"

Koushi doesn't look too pleased with the reminder, waving his hand dismissively. "Yeah yeah, Okay okay…" although he sounds tired, he has a slight grin on his face. The vice-captain leaves them be, exiting the room to go bother Daichi right outside the door. Yu groans quietly "what time is it?"

"Uh...Five...five?" Ryu answers with uncertainty but then clarifies "it's Seven fifteen."

"Geez, I can't believe I slept all day...oh, hey, did you guys win any today?"

Nishinoya doesn't get a verbal answer, just a very nervous-sounding laugh. There's no time for protesting as an arm wraps gently around Yu's shoulders and pulls him close to Tanaka's chest. "I don't think we can take a good win without our best libero ever!"

"I'm your only libero.. "

"I know, you get what I'm trying to say!"

They both laugh, the smaller male finding himself comfortable against the wing spiker. There's a long yet comfortable silence, filled with quiet thoughts. Finally, Ryunosuke spoke up again "You scared the hell out of me, you know."

"I did?"

"You crashed into a wall!"

"Oh yeah, haha. What, you were worried about me?"

There's another silence before the taller boy nods before sitting up, leaving his friend lying where he is. "It was pretty scary when that collision happened with Daichi. My arm was just sore but he got actually hurt. I felt pretty bad about that."

"It wasn't your fault that you both went for the ball," Noya reassured him, receiving a smile in response. "It was just super unlucky," he said, looking up as Ryu picked up the ice packs that Sugawara had thrown at his head.

"Yeah, then we must be super ultra unlucky," Tanaka calmly fixed an ice pack to the libero's ankle. "You literally broke two bones, man!" The phrase was dramatic and lighthearted, the type of behaviour they normally exhibited that made their teammates want to tape their mouths shut with the exception of Hinata.

"I slammed into a wall, remember?" Noya shot back playfully.

"Yeah, it was brutal to watch,"

They both flinched in surprise and turned almost in synch to see Yamamoto now entering their Team's room. "Just watching that made my shoulder hurt," Nekoma's ace flopped down nearby with an 'oof' sound.

"Did you come in here to mock us?" Nishinoya questioned, making Taketora shake his head "Nope! Just telling you that there's food downstairs. Your third-year manager is in the cutest outfit! She was helping cook, you can't miss it!"

It would probably disturb anyone else unfamiliar with them how quickly they attempted to get to their feet. Tanaka stood up pretty well but had to sort of catch Noya to keep him from falling back to the floor. He wouldn't mention it now, but Yu's interest was shifting from the older manager to someone else. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, but he wouldn't think too much about it.

\--------

The cafeteria was loud, but he was quiet. Hinata was buzzing in one ear while Tanaka was half-shouting in the other at Yamamoto who sat across from them. Even though he tried to ignore it, the thought just kept getting more annoying in his head. The brunette's eyes flickered between the manager who lingered near the table where the girls sat, and his bald friend beside him.

What was he even trying to choose between? What he wanted, what he preferred? The swirling thoughts gave him a headache, so he tuned out everything around him, focusing on his Friend's names scribbled on his cast. Even then his focus drifted.

_"You scared the hell out of me, you know."_

He exhales shakily, hurrying to get up and quickly rushing out the room, ignoring his limp. He shuts himself in a bathroom stall and slides down to the floor. This wasn't possible. This wasn't possible, this wasn't happening. He wasn't...really getting feelings for his best friend…

_Was he?_

"Noya?" As if on cue, Tanaka's familiar voice interrupted his muddled thoughts. He doesn't answer, but he's found anyway. The wing spiker puts his back against the stall door. "What's up with you, was the food bad?"

"No…"

"Was it too loud in there?"

"No,"

"Then dude, what-"

"I don't know!" Yu snaps, "I don't know, I don't know what it is, I just can't think right now, just please, piss off!"

There's a long silence. He can hear his breath waver on the other side.

"Ryu, I didn't…"

"We're leaving after dinner's done, so we have to get our stuff together so we don't leave anything behind…"

Nishinoya never heard such a forlorn tone off the court. And even then it was rare for him to get that frustrated.

The brunette waits until he hears him leave before getting up and leaving a little bit after. Packing is uneventful and boring as you would expect, but of course when was anything actually uneventful?

\----

"Shit, I forgot my phone-"

"Of course you did!" Tsukishima was never any help. Ukai muttered something incoherent before saying "Jesus Christ, go get it! Tanaka, go with him!"

Noya hurried off the bus with Tanaka close on his tail. Man, they were so stupid sometimes, but that was just part of their character. Although it was unclear why the one with a screwed up knee was chosen to accompany the one with a screwed up ankle.

Yu was quick to grab his phone from where he left it on the cafeteria table. When he turned around he was treated with Ryu's displeased expression and the rumbling of thunder.

"It's raining?"

"It's raining."

Running through the heavy rain was pretty fun, though. The taller player held his jacket up over their heads as they hurried back to the bus, pausing for a moment just barely out of sight of the occupants of the bus. "Wait, what's wrong, Noya?"

"I...I don't know, I just...I need to do something."

"Seriously, Coach Ukai is gonna murder us, what are you-"

Suddenly, Ryu's tugged down by the collar of his shirt, taken by surprise when their lips connect. His arms lower, dropping the jacket he had been holding up to shield them from the rain.

"...Nishi…"

"That was it, let's go," the libero smiled, dragging his friend behind him onto the bus.

"If you get sick it's your fault!" Daichi scolded as the two made their way back to their seats. "It's not like we can play anyway!" Tanaka responded, flopping down on the seat, Yu leaning his head on his shoulder with a heavy sigh.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Brown eyes meet blue-gray. Heat creeps up Ryunosuke's face despite being soaked from the rain. He chuckled quietly "Yeah, I did."

\--------

But apparently not enough….

Yu stared at his feet for most of the ceremony. He couldn't have turned this down, but also couldn't have ignored it. He had to come back to Japan for his friend. But this….he didn't like it. He was happy that he was happy, but...he didn't like this.

He avoided most of his friends at the service, too. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, but people would find it weird if the best man disappeared. When he's given the mic, he sighs.

"When we were back in our second year of high school, I broke my wrist and my collarbone. Maybe two days later, Ryu messed up his knee. It was the funniest and most depressing thing ever," a quiet ripple of laughter erupts from the crowd of people, some of which were part of the best three years of his life. And two who ruined it.

_"You said you'd be okay,"_

_"I don't think we can take a good win without our best libero ever!"_

_"You scared the hell out of me, you know."_

His breath hitches. "Now, if the whole breaking my bones thing and tearing something in his knee wasn't crazy enough, the night we left it was pouring down raining and I forgot my phone in the hotel, so-"

_"...Nishi…"_

_"That was it, let's go,"_

"S-So we had to run through the pouring fuckin' rain to get it and when we were on our way back, I did something….crazy." finally he dares to make eye contact with the groom, the bride beside him looking nervous. The brunette approaches the table slowly, lowering the microphone away from his face.

"Do you want to tell them? Or do I have to? Congratulations, take good care of her, cause you couldn't do the same for me," in something of a hurry, he puts it down and storms off, forcing himself to wait until he reaches the balcony to cry.

The cold air feels good on his face, making his tears feel like ice against his cheeks, and causing his hair to fly in his face.

Who made the mistake here?

_Him or me?_

\---------------

A few hours pass, and he doesn't return to the service. He can hear the loud music and happy cheers from the building he left. Unlike when he was in high school, these things didn't tempt him to return to it. Was he selfish for feeling like this? Probably.

The door opens behind him, and he isn't even sure who it is until he heard the voice.

"Why that story?"

"Because it's special to me, Asahi…"

There's a pause.

"You two were terrifying during that week, you know that? I didn't think it was possible for someone to be so hyped up while in so much pain. I could never," the bigger man chuckles softly. "I was kind of in shock when I realized how much pain you were in. I just couldn't believe that you were receiving almost perfectly even with a broken wrist and a sprained ankle."

"Don't forget the broken collarbone,"

" _Right_ " they both laugh.

Yu looks up at him with a soft and subtle smile. "We should all play together again sometimes. It'd be crazy to play with Tsukishima and Shouyo and Kageyama again, you know, since they're all pro now," he twirls a strand of his hair around his index finger.

"Oh yeah, they're really good, you'd be amazed. Hinata plays with Bokuto, a match made in heaven for sure," Azumane leans against the railing of the balcony, looking out at the night sky and the scene below.

"A match made in heaven…" Nishinoya echoes softly, turning his head slowly when the door opens again behind them. It's Suga and Daichi with champagne and cake. No one was bothered by eating outside and watching the sky.

After some time, there was a knock at the door. No one came out this time, but judging by the shuffling around him, Nishinoya could only assume his senpais were wanted elsewhere. Suga and Daichi speak soft 'see you later's, hand-in-hand as they return the the inside.

Yu catches a brief glance of the ring on Sugawara's finger glinting in the moonlight as he waves goodbye. His chest feels tight.

The large brunette begins to leave too, but he stops. "Hey, Noya?"

"Yeah?"

"How does your special story end?"

At the strange question, he turns around to look at the former ace. He sighs. "I kissed him in the rain before we got to the bus. So romantic, I know. It was _then_ , not so much _now_."

"Why not now?" Asahi questions, finding that the former libero can no longer look him in the eyes.

"Because I know how the story really ends…"

"Yeah? Well…" the male continues to the door "I guess that makes both of us."

"...Asahi?"

He pauses again.

"I love you, but my mind can't do it…"

Azumane only smiles and nods "I know."

He leaves with those words. Yu takes another deep breath. If you looked hard enough, you could probably see the chattered pieces of red that made up his heart, Tanaka's heart, maybe Kiyoko's. The clear pieces that were transparent and easy to see through belonged to Asahi.

Those pieces were tiny and fine like grains of salt, because the Ace's heart was made of glass, that Yu had been unknowingly chipping away at slowly for the past six or so years.

But that was fine.

_They'd just be broken for a little while longer, until Yu could get his own pieces back together._


End file.
